India Club presents a Double-Header of contemporary stars from India’s media:
Manu Joseph, reading from his novel, “The Illicit Happiness of Other People” and
Shoma Chaudhury speaking on “The Role of the Media in India’s Democracy".

Date: Saturday, May 10th 2014
Venue: Grand Copthorne Hotel
Time: 1:30pm-4:30pm. Each talk will be followed by Q&A, and light refreshments
Entrance: $30 for non-members; free for India Club members
RSVP: office@indiaclub.org.sg

The speakers:
Manu Joseph is a celebrated Indian journalist and novelist. He was Editor of OPEN magazine, features editor of the Times of India, and remains a widely-read columnist for the International New York Times. His debut novel, Serious Men, won The Hindu Literary Prize (2010) and the PEN/Open Book Award, and was short-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize. His second novel, The Illicit Happiness of Other People, was also short-listed for the Hindu Literary Prize (2013). The latter, a semi-autobiographical novel that he will read from, was described by the Wall Street Journal as a work that “injects dark, rueful laughter into an immensely touching story of loss”.

Shoma Chaudhury is a well-known journalist and political commentator in India. In 2011, Newsweek picked her as one of 150 power women who “shake the world”. She is the former Managing Editor of Tehelka, an Indian weekly newsmagazine, acclaimed for its investigative and public interest journalism. Previously she worked as a senior journalist with India Today and Outlook.

Ms Chaudhury is well known for her nuanced and complex commentary on the nature of Indian democracy and governance. She has also written critically on the politics of water, land and other natural resources that impact development. Ms Chaudhury has won several awards for her journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award and Chameli Devi awards in 2009. In May 2012, she won the Mumbai Press Club Award for best political reporting and in 2013 she won the prestigious Sabbiadoro Ernest Hemingway Award for Journalism.

Ms Chaudhury is also the director of THiNK, a widely celebrated and cutting-edge forum of ideas she co-founded. Over the last three years, each edition of THiNK has brought together the most diverse and eclectic thought leaders from across the globe and attracted influential and high-profile audiences.